Overview (4)

Mini Bio (1)

King Vidor was born on February 8, 1894 in Galveston, Texas, USA as King Wallis Vidor. He was a director and writer, known for Hallelujah (1929), The Crowd (1928) and Show People (1928). He was married to Vidor, Elizabeth Hill, Eleanor Boardman and Florence Vidor. He died on November 1, 1982 in Paso Robles, California, USA.

Survived the most horrific hurricane to ever hit the US, the 1900 storm that devastated Galveston, TX, on September 8, 1900. This tropical cyclone killed an estimated 6,000 people, fully one-third of the city's population. Vidor wrote a fictional account of the storm entitled "Southern Storm" for the May 1935 issue of "Esquire" magazine.

Entered into Guinness World Records as having "The Longest Career As A Film Director", spanning 67 years beginning with Hurricane in Galveston (1913) in 1913 and ending with the documentary The Metaphor (1980) in 1980.

The Big Parade (1925) was a huge hit. When MGM discovered that a clause in Vidor's contract entitled him to 20% of the net profits, studio lawyers called a meeting with him. At the meeting, MGM accountants played up the costs of the picture while downgrading the studio forecast of its potential success. Vidor was persuaded to sell his stake in the film for a small sum. The film ran for 96 weeks at the Astor Theater alone and grossed $5 million (approximately $67.3 million in 2014 dollars) domestically by 1930, making it the most profitable release in MGM history at that point.

He had three daughters. His oldest, Suzanne, was born to his first wife Florence in 1919. With Eleanor Boardman he had daughters Antonia, born in 1927, and Belinda, born in June, 1930.

The city of Vidor, Texas, was named after his father Charles Shelton Vidor, a prominent businessman who founded the Miller-Vidor Lumber Co., and the town grew up around it.

Vidor was one of the most important directors to work at MGM during its heyday, under contract 1923-1930, and 1938-1944 (in between, a spell at Paramount, 1935-1936). After he left the studio, he directed one of his best films, the epic western Duel in the Sun (1946) for Selznick, then was briefly under contract at Warner Brothers, 1949-50.

Having been talked out of his percentage of the net profits for The Big Parade (1925) by Louis B. Mayer, Vidor received as compensation assurances of being able to freely select his own subject matter in between studio assignments. This led directly to his two major successes in the late 1920s, The Crowd (1928)--a downbeat story of city life--and the pioneering all-black musical Hallelujah (1929).

His wartime drama The Big Parade (1925) cost about $200,000. However, MGM production chief Irving Thalberg was so impressed by the rough cut that he ordered additional war footage to be shot in order to bolster production values. That extra footage brought the cost of the film up to $380,000.

He retired after making Solomon and Sheba (1959), settling on his Paso Robles ranch in San Luis Obispo County, CA. In later years he lectured film students and budding filmmakers in directing at the University of Southern California.

Received his Walk of Fame star on the day of his 66th birthday (February 8, 1960).

When Orson Welles received the achievement award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, he acknowledged his debt to Vidor as a friend and mentor.

Thre young Vidor wrote 52 scripts before one was accepted. After he began being employed in several jobs at Universal, he continued to write under a pen name in order to circumvent the studio's rule that no employee was allowed to sell an original scenario to the studio.

Early in 1920 Vidor bought a square block of Santa Monica Boulevard and built Vidor Village, his own movie studio. The first movie filmed there was an adaptation of an Ellis Parker Butler book, The Jack-Knife Man (1920).

Personal Quotes (11)

The director is the channel through which a motion picture reaches the screen.

In Hollywood, the cameraman lights the star. In Europe, he lights the set.

[on unwittingly relinquishing his profit share in the hugely successful The Big Parade (1925) for a nominal sum] I thus spared myself from becoming a millionaire instead of a struggling young director trying to do something interesting and better with a camera.

[on Hedy Lamarr] Her beauty made up for whatever she lacked in acting ability. Acting probably didn't come naturally to her but the note of unsureness in what she did seemed to give her a certain childish attractiveness.

[on Frank Capra] Very often I would see the wheels going around and the tricks coming up. It was probably useful, but I used to be aware of the mechanics of it and how you would work toward a gag to get a gag in. I'm sure he'd think the same thing about me. He's a good filmmaker.

[on Robert Donat] He is the only actor I have ever known who had a graph of his character development charted out on the wall of his dressing room.

[on Gary Cooper] He got a reputation as a great actor just by thinking hard about the next line.

[on the chaotic conditions of early Hollywood] Men who had never been inside a studio were given directing assignments on pure bluff. They wouldn't have the slightest notion of what a camera could do. Some of these ne'er-do-wells would turn out several pictures before being discovered; by the time busy executives got around to viewing their initial efforts, they would be well into their third film.

My love affair with the greatest medium of expression has never faltered. It embraces all other art forms.

A simple story filmed with limited sets can often be more effective than a costly extravaganza. provided it had depth. , and allows the audience to identify with the character.

In my opinion, the motion picture is the greatest medium of expression ever invented. It embraces all the other arts. The films that have the greatest unity, the greatest overall strength, and give the most satisfaction to the viewer, have been those in which a guiding hand was imposed in every section of the film's many divisions. Story, casting, settings, photography, clothes, acting, should all bespeak one mind. The director owes the audience an explanation. You have to make what you're trying to say understandable. What good is it if no one understands it? The scene doesn't have to be real. We deal with illusion, and the job of director is to control the illusion.